U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Headline News - Top 25 Update

Two indictments were unsealed in federal court that charge high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel with international drug trafficking following investigations lead by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The scammers claim the passport is involved in some type of crime and threaten the caller by indicating police will be dispatched to their home to arrest them. The scammers are spoofing the HSI San Antonio main phone number, 210-979-4500.

Archaga Carías and other MS-13 members and associates acting at his direction, also provided protection for other drug trafficking organizations (“DTOs”) engaged in transporting multi-ton loads of cocaine through Honduras and destined for the United States.

According to court documents, on Oct. 29, Kevin Alan Aguilar-Moreno, 20, attempted to board a Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix, checking two suitcases prior to boarding. TSA agents screening luggage determined that Aguilar-Moreno’s baggage contained approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine; a FN, Model 509 9x19 pistol; a Rock Island Armory, 1911 A1-FS pistol; an AR-15-type firearm with no serial number; and 241 rounds of .223 ammunition, of which 39 were armor piercing ammunition.

According to court documents and testimony at trial, between December 2019 and August 2020, Jose Luis Garcia Jr., 34, purchased at least 49 firearms from federal firearm licensees in El Paso. Agents observed that Garcia, who was living in Mexico at the time, would often cross into the United States for just a few hours to purchase firearms and then return to Mexico.

Brennan John Hauk, 42, was arrested and federally indicted as a result of an undercover sex trafficking operation conducted during the 2019 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, targeting online predators.

Upon his release from prison, Nikolas John Larson, 41, will also serve five years of supervised release. 

William Jacob Stone, 72, appeared in federal court on Oct. 22 and pleaded not guilty.

Steven Barros Pinto, 40, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Peter Welte, to 33 years imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and controlled substances analogues, conspiracy to import controlled substances and controlled substances analogues into the United States, money laundering conspiracy, continuing criminal enterprise (CCE), and obstruction of justice.